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INAUGUEAL ADDEESS 



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PRESIDENT OF THE UIITED STATES, 



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FOURTH OF MARCH, 1857. 



WASHINGTON: 

A. O. P. NICHOLSON, PRINTER. 

1857. 



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£:43fe 



JAN 2Xt5t)9 



INAUGUEAL ADDRESS. 



Fellow-citizens : I appear before you this day to take the solemn 
oath 'Hhat I will faithfully execute the office of President of the 
United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, 
and defend the Constitution of the United States." 

In entering upon this great office, I must humbly invoke the God 
of our fathers for wisdom and firmness to execute its high and respon- 
sible duties in such a manner as to restore harmony and ancient friend- 
ship among the people of the several States, and to preserve our free 
institutions throughout many generations. Convinced that I owe my 
election to the inherent love for the Constitution and the Union which 
still animates the hearts of the American people, let me earnestly ask 
their powerful support in sustaining all just measures calculated to 
perpetuate these, the richest political blessings which Heaven has ever 
bestowed upon any nation. Having determined not to become a can- 
didate for re-election, I shall have no motive to influence my conduct 
in administering the government except the desire ably and faithfully 
to serve my country, and to live in the grateful memory of my coun- 
trymen. 

We have recently passed through a presidential contest in which 
the passions of our fellow-citizens were excited to the highest degree 
by questions of deej) and vital importance ; but when the people pro- 
claimed their will, the temiiest at once subsided, and all was calm. 

The voice of the majority, speaking in the manner prescribed by 
the Constitution, was heard, and instant submission followed. Our 
own country could alone have exhibited so grand and striking a spec- 
tacle of the capacity of man for self-government. 

What a happy conception, then, was it for Congress to apply this 
simple rule — that the will of the majority shall govern — to the settle- 
ment of the question of domestic slavery in the Territories ! Con- 
gress is neither '' to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor 
to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the j)eople thereof perfectly free 
to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, 
subject only to the Constitution of the United States." As a natural 
consequence, Congress has also prescribed that, when the Territory of 



4 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

Kansas shall be admitted as a State, it '' shallbe received into tlie 
Union, with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe 
at the time of their admission." 

A difference of opinion has arisen in regard to the point of time 
when the people of a Territory shall decide this question for themselves. 

This is, happily, a matter of but little practical importance. Be- 
sides, it is a judicial question, which legitimately belongs to the 
Supreme Court of the United States, before whom it is now pending, 
and will, it is understood, be speedily and finally settled. To their 
decision, in common with all good citizens, I shall cheerfully submit, 
whatever this may be, though it has ever been my individual opinion 
that, under the Nebraska-Kansas act, the appropriate period will be 
when the number of actual residents in the Territory shall justify the 
formation of a constitution with a view to its admission as a State into 
the Union. But be this as it may, it is the imperative and indis- 
pensable duty of the government of the United States to secure to 
every resident inhabitant the free and independent expression of his 
opinion by his vote. This sacred right of each individual must be 
preserved. That being accomplished, nothing can be fairer than to 
leave the people of a Territory free from all foreign interference, to 
decide their own destiny for themselves, subject only to the Constitu- 
tion of the United States. 

The whole territorial question being thus settled upon the principle 
of popular sovereignty — a principle as ancient as free government it- 
self — everything of a practical nature has been decided. No other 
question remains for adjustment ; because all agree that, under the 
Constitution, slavery in the States is beyond the reach of any human 
power, except that of the respective States themselves wherein it ex- 
ists. May we not, then, hope that the long agitation on this subject 
is approaching its end, and that the geographical parties to which it 
has given birth, so much dreaded by the Father of his Country, will 
speedily become extinct ? Most happy will it be for the country when 
the public mind shall be diverted from this question to others of more 
pressing and practical importance. Throughout the whole progress 
of this agitation, which has scarcely known any intermission for more 
than twenty years, whilst it has been productive of no positive good 
to any human being, it has been the prolific source of great evils to 
the master, to the slave, and to the whole country. It has alienated 



IJfAUGURAL ADDRESS. 5 

and estranged the people of the sister States from each other, and has 
even seriously endangered the very existence of the Union. Nor has 
the danger yet entirely ceased. Under our system there is a remedy 
for all mere political evils in the sound sense and sober judgment of 
the people. Time is a great corrective. Political subjects which but 
a few years ago excited and exasperated the public mind have passed 
away and are now nearly forgotten. But this question of domestic 
slavery is of far graver importance than any mere political question, 
because, should the agitation continue, it may eventually endanger 
the personal safety of a large portion of our countrymen where the 
institution exists. In that event, no form of government, however 
admirable in itself, and however productive of material benefits, can 
compensate for the loss of peace and domestic security aroimd the 
family altar. Let every Union-loving man, therefore, exert his best 
influence to suppress this agitation, which, since the recent legislation 
of Congress, is without any legitimate object. 

It is an evil omen of the times that men have undertaken to calcu- 
late the mere material value of the Union. Reasoned estimates have 
been presented of the pecuniary profits and local advantages which 
would result to different States and sections from its dissolution, and 
of the comparative injuries which such an event would inflict on 
other States and sections. Even descending to this low and narrow 
view of the mighty question, all such calculations are at fault. The 
bare reference to a single consideration will be conclusive on this 
point. We at present enjoy a free trade throughout our extensive 
and expanding country, such as the world has never witnessed. This 
trade is conducted on railroads and canals — on noble rivers and arms 
of the sea — which bind together the north and the south, the east 
and the west of our confederacy. Annihilate this trade, arrest its 
free progress by the geographical lines of jealous and hostile States, 
and you destroy the prosperity and onward march of the whole and 
every part, and involve all in one common ruin. But such considera- 
tions, important as they are in themselves, sink into insignificance 
when we reflect on the terrific evils which would result from disunion 
to every portion of the confederacy — to the north not more than to the 
south, to the east not more than to the west. These I shall not at- 
tempt to portray ; because I feel an humble confidence that the kind 
Providence which inspired our fathers with wisdom to frame the most 



g INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

perfect form of government and Union ever devised by man will not 
suffer it to perish until it shall have been peacefully instrumental, by 
its example, in the extension of civil and religious liberty throughout 
the world. 

Next in importance to the maintenance of the Constitution and the 
Union is the duty of preserving the government free from the taint, 
or even the suspicion, of corruption. Public virtue is the vital spirit 
of republics ; and history proves that when this has decayed, and the 
love of money has usurped its place, although the forms of free gov. 
ernment may remain for a season, the substance has departed forever. 
Our present financial condition is without a parallel in history. No 
nation has ever before been embarrassed from too large a surplus in 
its treasury. This almost necessarily gives birth to extravagant legis- 
lation. It produces wild schemes of expenditure, and begets a race 
of speculators and jobbers, whose ingenuity is exerted in contriving 
and promoting expedients to obtain public money. The purity of 
official agents, whether rightfully or wrongfully, is suspected, and the 
character of the government suffers in the estimation of the people. 
This is in itself a very great evil. 

The natural mode of relief from this embarrassment is to appro- 
priate the surplus in the treasury to great national objects, for which 
a clear warrant can be found in the Constitution. Among these I 
might mention the extinguishment of the public debt, a reasonable 
increase of the navy, which is at present inadequate to the protection 
of our vast tonnage afloat, now greater than that of any other nation, 
as well as to the defence of our extended seacoast. 

It is beyond all question the true principle, that no more revenue 
ought to be collected from the people than the amount necessary to 
defray the expenses of a wise, economical, and efficient administration 
of the government. To reach this point, it was necessary to resort to 
a modification of the tariff; and this has, I trust, been accomplished 
in such a manner as to do as little injury as may have been practi- 
cable to our domestic manufactures, especially those necessary for the 
defence of the country. Any discrimination against a particular 
branch, for the purpose of benefitting favored corporations, indi- 
viduals, or interests, would have been unjust to the rest of the com- 
munity, and inconsistent with that spirit of fairness and equality 
which ought to govern in the adjustment of a revenue tariff^ 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 7 

But the squandering of the public money sinks into comparative 
insignificance as a temptation to corruption when compared with the 
squandering of the public lands. 

No nation in the tide of time has ever been blessed with so rich 
and noble an inheritance as we enjoy in the public lands. In 
administering this important trust, whilst it may be wise to grant 
portions of them for the improvement of the remainder, yet we should 
never forget that it is our cardinal policy to reserve these lands, as 
much as may be, for actual settlers, and this at moderate prices. We 
shall thus not only best promote the prosperity of the new States and 
Territories by furnishing them a hardy and independent race of honest 
and industrious citizens, but shall secure homes for our children and 
our children's children, as well as for those exiles from foreign shores 
who may seek in this country to improve their condition, and to enjoy 
the blessings of civil and religious liberty. Such emigrants have 
done much to promote the growth and prosperity of the country. 
They have proved faithful both in peace and in war. After becoming 
citizens, they are entitled, under the Constitution and laws, to be 
placed on a perfect equality with native-born citizens ; and in this 
character they should ever be kindly recognized. 

The Federal Constitution is a grant from the States to Congress of 
certain specific powers ; and the question whether this grant should 
be liberally or strictly construed, has, more or less, divided political 
parties from the beginning. Without entering into the argument, I 
desire to state, at the commencement of my administration, that long 
experience and observation have convinced me that a strict construc- 
tion of the powers of the government is the only true, as well as the 
only safe, theory of the Constitution. Whenever, in our past history, 
doubtful powers have been exercised by Congress, these have never 
failed to produce injurious and unhappy consequences. Many such in- 
stances might be adduced, if this were the proper occasion. Neither 
is it necessary for the public service to strain the language of the Con- 
stitution ; because all the great and useful powers required for a suc- 
cessful administration of the government, both in peace and in war, 
have been granted, either in express terms or by the plainest implica- 
tion. 

Whilst deeply convinced of these truths, I yet consider it clear that, 
under the war-making power, Consrress may appropriate money to- 



8 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

•wards the construction of a military road, when this is absolutely 
necessary for the defence of any State or Territory of the Union 
against foreign invasion. Under the Constitution Congress has power 
''to declare war," "to raise and support armies," "to provide and 
maintain a navy," and to call forth the militia to "repel invasions." 
Thus endowed, in an ample manner, with the war-making power, the 
corresponding duty is required that "the United States tliall protect 
each of them [the States] against invasion." Now, how is it jjossible 
to afford this protection to California and our Pacific possessions, ex- 
cept by means of a military road through the Territories of the United 
States, over which men and munitions of war may be speedily trans- 
ported from the Atlantic States to meet and to repelthe invader? In 
the event of a war with a naval power much stronger than our own, 
we should then have no other available access to the Pacific coast, be- 
cause such a power would instantly close the route across the isthmus 
of Central America. It is impossible to conceive that, whilst the 
Constitution has expressly required Congress to defend all the States, 
it should yet deny to them, by any fair construction, the only possible 
means by which one of these States can be defended. Besides, the 
government, ever since its origin, has been in the constant practice of 
constructing military roads. It might also be wise to consider whether 
the love for the Union which now animates our fellow-citizens on the 
Pacific coast may not be impaired by our neglect or refusal to provide 
for them, in their remote and isolated condition, the only means by 
which the power of the States, on this side of the Rocky mountains, 
can reach them in sufficient time to "protect" them "against inva- 
sion." I forbear for the present from expressing an opinion as to the 
wisest and most economical mode in which the government can lend 
its aid in accomplishing this great and necessary work. I believe that 
many of the difficulties in the way, which now appear formidable, 
will, in a great degree, vanish as soon as the nearest and best route 
shall have been satisfactorily ascertained. 

It may be proper that, on this occasion, I should make some brief 
remarks in regard to our rights and duties as a member of the great 
family of nations. In our intercourse with them there are some plain 
principles, approved by our own experience, from which we should 
never depart. We ought to cultivate peace, commerce, and friendship 
with all nations ; and this not merely as the best means of promoting 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 9 

our own material interests, but in a spirit of Christian benevolence 
towards our fellow-men, wherever their lot may be cast. Our diplo- 
macy should be direct and frank, neither seeking to obtain more nor 
accepting less than is our due. We ought to cherish a sacred regard 
for the independence of all nations, and never attempt to interfere in 
the domestic concerns of any, unless this shall be imperatively required 
by the great law of self-preservation. To avoid entangling alliances 
has been a maxim of our policy ever since the days of Washington, 
and its wisdom no one will attempt to dispute. In short, we ought to 
do justice, in a kindly spirit, to all nations, and require justice from 
them in return. 

It is our glory that, whilst other nations have extended their do- 
minions by the sword, we have never acquired any territory except by 
fair purchase, or, as in the case of Texas, by the voluntary determina- 
tion of a brave, kindred,- and independent people to blend their desti- 
nies with our own. Even our acquisitions from Mexico form no 
exception. Unwilling to take advantage of the fortune of war against 
a sister republic, we purchased these possessions, under the treaty of 
peace, for a sum which was considered at the time a fair equivalent. 
Our past history forbids that we shall in the future acquire territory, 
unless this be sanctioned by the laws of justice and honor. Acting on 
this principle, no nation will have a right to interfere or to complain 
if, in the progress of events, we shall still further extend our posses- 
sions. Hitherto, in all our acquisitions, the people, under the protec- 
tion of the American flag, have enjoyed civil and religious liberty, as 
well as equal and just laws, and have been contented, prosperous, and 
happy. Their trade with the rest of the world has rapidly increased ; 
and thus every commercial nation has shared largely in their success- 
ful progress. 

I shall now proceed to take the oath prescribed by the Constitution, 
whilst humbly invoking the blessing of Divine Providence on this 
great people. 

JAMES BUCHANAN. 

Washington City, March 4, 1857. 



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